Beverly officials react to Horribles Parade

Wednesday

Jul 12, 2017 at 9:46 AMJul 12, 2017 at 9:39 PM

Jennie Oemig beverly@wickedlocal.com @BeverlyCitizen

While the Beverly Farms Horribles Parade has been a tradition for over a century, there has been a great deal of concern over its handling the past two years. This year, some floats took aim at a Beverly resident who was outspoken regarding insensitive floats that appeared in the 2016 parade.

Several floats in last year’s parade drew the criticism of folks who found them to be offensive to certain groups of people. Some of those individuals went so far as to reach out to sponsors of the parade and ask that they withdraw funding support for the event.

One of those people was Beverly resident Norrie Gall.

This year, Gall became the focus of at least two floats. One sign, in particular, crossed the line by spelling out a derogatory term vertically using the first letter of a four-word phrase; the first four letters were obscured using emojis, but it was clear to most what vulgar term lie beneath.

The signs and floats targeting Gall have been described by Beverly officials as “disrespectful,” “inappropriate” and “crassly offensive.”

Over the course of the past week, Beverly Mayor Michael P. Cahill, along with several city councilors and the city’s Human Rights Committee all issued statements denouncing the messages directed at Gall.

“Our committee stands by the same issues Norrie protested last year, only that we approached our protest in a different way. Both were peaceful,” read the statement from the Human Rights Committee. “We do not want to lose sight of the reason she stepped up to vocalize her disappointment last year: because she saw things that hurt individuals and made them feel unwelcome in this city, and because we all believe that this city can do better, be smarter, and recognize the difference between humor and satire and personal attacks.”

The Human Rights Committee has already been in talks with Cahill about how its members “can be an active part of the way forward.”

“This is not a Beverly Farms problem or a problem with political correctness or over sensitivity,” according to the statement. “This is about humanity, and it's ALL of our problem. We must all work together to make things better; there's no other way.”

Cahill said in his statement that he condemned the attack against Gall.

“It was completely unacceptable and had no place in the parade,” he said. “I met with the parade organizers to express my disgust at this vulgar attack, and to ask how offensive, inappropriate messages like this made their way past judges and into the parade for the second year in a row.”

Having met with the parade organizers last week to express his “disgust at this vulgar attack,” Cahill said he is hopeful things will change.

“I believe the people of Beverly Farms understand what is needed now – a committed effort to make the parade the best version of itself possible, where the satire is clever, fun and appropriate,” he said. “It is my sincere hope that the board commits to keeping all that is good about the parade while ensuring that vulgar, offensive messages are permanently a thing of the past.”

Three city councilors who marched in last Tuesday’s parade also issued statements.

“Instead of preventing further lapses, it allowed an abuse, based in the language of misogyny, bullying and intimidation, to be perpetrated against a local community activist who worked to call the community to account for past lapses of bad taste and bad judgment,” he wrote in a Facebook statement. “I would like to publicly apologize to Ms. Gall for all of the pain this has caused her."

At-large councilor Matt St. Hilaire, who has lived in Beverly Farms for the last 11 years, said the 4th of July traditions are a huge part of the community.

“The residents of Beverly Farms are not ‘elitists’ or ‘racists,’” he wrote. “This neighborhood is full of decent, hard-working people. Those that say otherwise just don’t know what they are talking about.”

St. Hilaire said his decision to participate in the parade was in no way an endorsement of any comments made on any of the floats.

“As I stated last year, floats that contain ‘racist,’ ‘homophobic’ or other language that ‘crosses the line’ have no place in our community and should not be allowed in the parade,” he wrote. “I think we can all agree that the vulgar term used in this year’s parade was inappropriate and ‘crossed the line’ and should not have been allowed in the parade.”

In a follow-up statement, St. Hilaire said he has urged the Farms-Prides 4th of July Committee to admit a mistake was made and to publicly apologize to Gall and the community as a whole.

In his statement, Ward 4 City Councilor Scott Houseman said, “The spirit of the parade guidelines were violated with a float that was not clever, but was crassly offensive.”

“Free speech and edgy content is one thing, but when a member of our community feels bullied, then bullying has occurred,” he wrote. “The actions of a few in the parade have over-shadowed the many good community aspects of the Farms Independence Day events.”

Houseman said he has reached out and apologized to Gall for inadvertently and unintentionally showing any kind of support for the attack on her by marching in the parade.

“I hope the responsible parade officials will do the same and set a course to improve the standing of the Beverly Farms Independence Day parade in our community,” he wrote. “Beverly is not a community of hate. We can and should seize upon this event … as an opportunity for constructive dialogue and to clearly state that our community values are positive values.”

Note: The Farms-Prides 4th of July Committee was expected to meet this week to discuss the events that transpired following last Tuesday’s parade. A formal statement is expected, but, as of press time, had not yet been released.